LEGER: Proud Boys? They should hang their heads in shame

Gavin McInnes is surrounded by supporters after speaking at a rally Thursday, April 27, 2017, in Berkeley, Calif. McInnes, co-founder of Vice Media and founder of the pro-Trump Proud Boys. AP-Marcio Jose Sanchez

The air must have been blue at National Defence Headquarters last week when the generals found out they were commanding a pack of would-be race bullies who disrupted an indigenous ceremony on Canada Day.

In videos from the scene, the five so-called Proud Boys, a combination hate group-fraternity, smirked for cameras as they tried, not very hard, to provoke the protesters.

The small crowd of indigenous activists and supporters were ceremonially protesting near a statue of Edward Cornwallis, founder of Halifax. To the Mi’kmaq, Cornwallis is a war criminal for his actions as British colonial governor.

Videos from the protest spread quickly online and soon the young men in matching black shirts were identified as serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

That’s when the cussing would have started at Defence HQ.

Somehow, the five had managed to conceal their white supremacist allegiances from their officers and supervisors. Or maybe they hadn’t concealed anything, which would be worse.

That’s all being investigated and Canadians have a right to know what went on. By engaging in a public spectacle, the soldier and four sailors exposed a breakdown in military leadership and discipline.

That they expected to get away with it suggests they are too stunned to pose much threat to public safety. But they are nevertheless in deep trouble. All five have been suspended from duty and could face courts-martial.

Senior military officers must know the case could turn into a circus if supporters of the five rally behind them. I’d say that’s likely, once the perfervid alt-right media sees a chance to make white martyrs of the Proud Boys.

General Jonathan Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff, expressed his personal outrage over the news and warned of “severe consequences, including release from the forces” for the five.

“Their future in the military is certainly in doubt.”

I’d say they’re lucky the army banned flogging in 1868.

Worse for the military leadership, the five can’t just be kicked out and forgotten. The military has to answer for them.

Their behaviour reflects poorly on the armed forces, which Vance calls “the nation’s protectors.” As such, the Forces must reflect Canada’s multicultural face. But Proud Boys don’t like multiculturalism. Worse, their action mocks the long, heroic record of service by First Nations soldiers.

The generals must know recruiting in diverse communities will become harder unless the five are dealt with forcefully. They’ve made the army’s diversity problem just that much worse.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, a former army officer and Afghanistan veteran, says he faced intolerance in uniform unlike anything he met in civilian life.

“I finally found out what racism was when I joined the military,” Sajjan told Global News last year.

They appear to take courage from a sense of racial entitlement, being shared more openly now than at any time in memory.

Influential voices online, in media, culture and especially politics, are normalizing hateful speech. They claim a right to say whatever they want, even though they often turn out to be sensitive souls when free speech is aimed at them.

Still, the Halifax five didn’t commit an obvious crime. It’s not against the law to dispute colonial history or deny indigenous land rights, even when done distastefully. That’s not the point, however. Serving military members must meet certain standards or face the consequences.

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Antonio Lamer wrote in 2003 that “breaches of military discipline must be dealt with speedily and, frequently, punished more severely” than civilian cases. The Proud Boys of Halifax have earned the right to find that out for themselves.